Earth System Science for Global Sustainability: Grand Challenges

Reid, Walter V.; Chen, Deliang; Goldfarb, L.; Hackmann, Heide; Lee, Y. T.; Mokhele, K.; Остром, Элинор; Raivio, Kari O.; Rockström, Johan; Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim; Whyte, Anne

doi:10.1126/science.1196263

Cited by 524 publications

(282 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Reid et al 2010;Chapin et al 2011). Planetary Stewardship provides a new and more compelling context for social-ecological scholarship and for developing strategies that link sustainability science to action (Fig.…”

Section: Planetary Stewardship and Global Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconnecting to the Biosphere

Folke

Jansson

Rockström

et al. 2011

AMBIO

508

320

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Humanity has emerged as a major force in the operation of the biosphere, with a significant imprint on the Earth System, challenging social-ecological resilience. This new situation calls for a fundamental shift in perspectives, world views, and institutions. Human development and progress must be reconnected to the capacity of the biosphere and essential ecosystem services to be sustained. Governance challenges include a highly interconnected and faster world, cascading social-ecological interactions and planetary boundaries that create vulnerabilities but also opportunities for social-ecological change and transformation. Tipping points and thresholds highlight the importance of understanding and managing resilience. New modes of flexible governance are emerging. A central challenge is to reconnect these efforts to the changing preconditions for societal development as active stewards of the Earth System. We suggest that the Millennium Development Goals need to be reframed in such a planetary stewardship context combined with a call for a new social contract on global sustainability. The ongoing mind shift in human relations with Earth and its boundaries provides exciting opportunities for societal development in collaboration with the biosphere-a global sustainability agenda for humanity.

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Section: Planetary Stewardship and Global Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconnecting to the Biosphere

Folke

Jansson

Rockström

et al. 2011

AMBIO

508

320

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“…Beck' s (1992) argument for the most part treats scientists as risk apologists (which is certainly no longer the case when it comes to major environmental issues), and assumes it is possible for ordinary citizens to trace the causes and effects of environmental risks and damages. But especially when it comes to complex and global hazards, it is only experts who are capable of identifying the problem in question, where it came from, and what biophysical mechanisms should be targeted in order to ameliorate it (Reid et al 2010). Without science, the ozone layer could not have been recognized, nor the impacts of chlorofluorocarbon emissions upon it traced, nor the damage caused by increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation that results from this damage located.…”

Section: Reflexive Tensionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deliberation as a catalyst for reflexive environmental governance

Dryzek

Pickering

2017

Ecological Economics

131

103

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“…The world has undergone dramatic changes and increased interactions over long distances in recent decades, often with profound impacts on socioeconomic and environmental sustainability (Reid et al 2010). A poignant example involves biofuels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Framing Sustainability in a Telecoupled World

Liu¹,

Hull²,

Batistella³

et al. 2013

E&S

804

585

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ABSTRACT. Interactions between distant places are increasingly widespread and influential, often leading to unexpected outcomes with profound implications for sustainability. Numerous sustainability studies have been conducted within a particular place with little attention to the impacts of distant interactions on sustainability in multiple places. Although distant forces have been studied, they are usually treated as exogenous variables and feedbacks have rarely been considered. To understand and integrate various distant interactions better, we propose an integrated framework based on telecoupling, an umbrella concept that refers to socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances. The concept of telecoupling is a logical extension of research on coupled human and natural systems, in which interactions occur within particular geographic locations. The telecoupling framework contains five major interrelated components, i.e., coupled human and natural systems, flows, agents, causes, and effects. We illustrate the framework using two examples of distant interactions associated with trade of agricultural commodities and invasive species, highlight the implications of the framework, and discuss research needs and approaches to move research on telecouplings forward. The framework can help to analyze system components and their interrelationships, identify research gaps, detect hidden costs and untapped benefits, provide a useful means to incorporate feedbacks as well as trade-offs and synergies across multiple systems (sending, receiving, and spillover systems), and improve the understanding of distant interactions and the effectiveness of policies for socioeconomic and environmental sustainability from local to global levels.

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Earth System Science for Global Sustainability: Grand Challenges

Abstract: Progress in understanding and addressing both global environmental change and sustainable development requires better integration of social science research.

Cited by 524 publications

References 6 publications

Reconnecting to the Biosphere

Reconnecting to the Biosphere

Deliberation as a catalyst for reflexive environmental governance

Framing Sustainability in a Telecoupled World

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